Protest Outside Mayor Garcetti’s House Ends With Unprovoked Police Violence, One Arrest
The LAPD continues to brutalize and attack protesters while disseminating misinformation to major media outlets.
On the 13th straight morning of protests outside The Getty House, LAPD riot officers ambushed the crowd, which included children, the elderly, and the disabled. A protest marshal and local elected official was arrested, deadnamed, charged, and released.
Activists with Black Lives Matter — Los Angeles and coalitional allies rallied outside Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house Sunday morning demanding that he not be appointed to any position in President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration. In what appeared to be a premeditated ambush, LAPD riot officers, some without masks on, descended on the protestors, beating several with batons and causing a pile-up of bodies on the ground.
Like the previous 12 mornings, a crowd of roughly 200 protestors marched up Irving Boulevard to the Getty House, then complied with police orders to stay off the roadway and on the sidewalk. Several children as young as two years old were in attendance with their caretakers.
Just before organizers were getting ready to set up a table for donuts and juice, dozens of riot police crossed onto the eastern sidewalk of Irving Boulevard and began beating protestors with batons. As seen in a video posted by People’s City Council, the attack was both sudden and unprovoked.
In this video, you can see Lt. Figueroa give instructions to the unit. He tells them to get BLM organizer Joseph who has been leading the actions for the past two weeks. Figueroa tells the unit to “move through the crowd” and “grab the turquoise shirt.” https://t.co/4P1KfAMkfv
— Cerise Castle (@cerisecastle) December 6, 2020
Lieutenant Figueroa can be heard telling his unit to “grab the turquoise shirt,” referring to Joseph Williams, an organizer with BLM-LA who has been leading the actions. That’s when Jamie Penn, an elected member of the Wilshire Center-Koreatown Neighborhood Council and organizer with DSA-LA, ran over to de-escalate.
“I saw someone fall on the ground, and they were elderly. At the time I didn’t realize it was Baba Akili [Akili is a veteran activist and organizer who has worked with BLM-LA for years]. I just ran over to help him off the ground. The next thing I know I’m getting shoved, I’m in a dog pile, and I’m in custody,” Penn said in a phone interview.
She has been marshaling nearly all of these protests, helping direct traffic, communicate with legal observers, and ensure protestors’ safety. Penn said her Miranda rights were never read to her, and she was repeatedly mocked by officers for her gender identity as a trans woman.